Which Mercedes GLC? The 300 Petrol or 220 Diesel?

This is a discussion on Which Mercedes GLC? The 300 Petrol or 220 Diesel? within Luxury, Imports & Niche, part of the What Car? category; So, a friend was on the lookout for a luxury SUV in the 50-60L bracket and after much deliberation, has ...

On road price is almost similar, with less than 50k premium for the Petrol. Clearly, the heart says Petrol, but the SA is strongly advising to go with the Diesel saying it will have a better resale value.

Wait time will be similar for both options as neither is available for immediate purchase and will need to be back ordered. Delivery time quoted is between 3-4weeks depending on choice of color.

Another hiccup is that they do not have the Petrol variant either for display or for test drive

So need your advice on which would be the wiser option keeping in mind that this will be self driven and max usage would be between 10-15k per annum.

As has been previously discussed in the forum, premium German petrols need premium fuel while the diesel engines are happy with regular diesel. If you have access to Speed 97 (or 93?) in your city and are not bothered about the single digit fuel efficiency and low resale value, go for the petrol.

I love petrols, but for big SUVs, I feel diesel is the way to go. These cars are built with terrific sound deadening materials and I don't think you will find the diesel to be loud or clattery on the inside. Though the petrol has more peak power (50%), in the real world the difference will be marginal as the diesel has more usable power. Also I am sure the petrol performance will be blunted with our regular octane fuel. If I am not mistaken, the sticker on the fuel lid of the GLC 300 recommends 98 or 97 RON. Maintenance wise don't see the petrol being cheaper either.

I would have agreed with Sanosh had I not driven the cars, it's significantly different from conventional theory.

The petrol has a lot of usable power low and mid range, in fact the top whack is a let down... The fantastic 9 speed (used many gearboxes in luxury and sportscars And I feel the 9G gtronic is a gem) works better on the petrol and the diesel actually is a fraction slower to respond. The 300's cabin is more hushed too.

If he drives himself even 50% of the time and can give up 10 lakh depreciation over the diesel for the pleasure of driving, the GLC 300 it is. For everything else the 220 works fine.

The 220 is a great car in its own right until you have driven the 300.

So, a friend was on the lookout for a luxury SUV in the 50-60L bracket and after much deliberation, has closed in on the Mercedes GLC.

You never buy these cars with resale value in mind. You buy what you want. The SA will not be living with this day in and day out for the next x years. I'd say petrol. Go for the proper mercedes experience.

Last edited by GTO : 27th April 2017 at 10:43.
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I have driven both the Petrol and the Diesel GLC. I preferred driving the GLC Petrol because of the extra power and smoothness and even felt driving it more effortless and it would be my choice to buy however i feel with the added headache of sourcing the higher RON petrol it might become a headache. Like others have suggested, if you have access to higher RON petrol then its petrol otherwise Diesel.

Recently Mercedes has been advertising offers for pre GST sales. Has anyone researched with any dealer the cost reduction on GLC and what other benefits Mercedes is making available? e.g. according to a few articles BMW is offering 7.9% interest rate, complimentary service & maintenance for 3 years, assured buyback guarantee for 4 years and 1 year complimentary insurance, in addition to price reduction.

As someone who tested both the Petrol and Diesel, I have to say that the Petrol is quieter but you can't feel the power difference in urban conditions. Resale value on petrol luxury cars is non existent. One additional factor that may be important is that the rarity of the petrols implies that service technicians may not be used to these cars. So the diesel would be the sensible choice.

But you should test it out yourself - the Bombay dealers have both cars available.

One additional factor that may be important is that the rarity of the petrols implies that service technicians may not be used to these cars. So the diesel would be the sensible choice.

The shouldn't be such a big issue to be honest. While the petrols are in fact rarer, its only relative. And Mercedes does end up selling more petrol variants than you'd imagine. Also in the last couple of years they have launched more petrol models due to the diesel ban in certain parts of our country, and petrol cars are selling in higher numbers. I don't have an actual statistic on this, but you can rest assured that the service technicians will be more than well versed with petrol cars, as they are with diesel.